Alumni News-Class Notes

1950s

Bruce Spivey (’59 MD, ’63 R) received the 2015 Laureate Recognition Award, the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s highest honor. He is a former assistant professor at the UI, department chair and dean of medical sciences at the University of the Pacific, leader of numerous professional organizations, and president of health care systems in Chicago and New York.

1970s

Susan Rae Jensen (’76 MD, ’81 F) is an interventional cardiologist with University of Colorado Health who also performs as a soloist in opera and musical theater, often to benefit the arts and to aid aspiring students. The Colorado Springs Conservatory recognized her support of music education by naming its vocal arts area in her honor.

Stephen D. Miller, MD (’78 R), retired as vice president of the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Hawaii, where he also was chair of the eye department for many years, with a sub-specialty in retinal surgery. He has taught surgery and management with the Seva Foundation, a nonprofit that helps develop eye hospitals in 21 countries. He currently chairs the foundation’s board of directors.

John Viner (’74 MD, ’77 R, ’79 F) retired after 37 years practicing at Dubuque (Iowa) Internal Medicine. As an infectious disease specialist, he consulted on community preparations for diseases ranging from SARS and Ebola to AIDS.

1990s

Marta VanBeek (’97 MD, ’01 R, ’03 F) was elected to a three-year term as medical chief of staff at UI Hospitals and Clinics. She is a clinical associate professor of dermatology and holds the C. William Hanke Professorship in Dermatology Surgery, serves as director of the Division of Dermatology Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology, and oversees the fellowship program in dermatologic surgery.

2000s

Eileen Lee (’06 MD, ’09 R) co-authored a comprehensive review of paraneoplastic syndromes, which was published in Elsevier’s Hospital Medicine Clinics. These syndromes are uncommon manifestations of cancer not directly related to mass effect or to a substance normally produced by the cancerous tissue. They are often classified by the affected organ system and may appear before or after the diagnosis of cancer.

Erika Saunders (’01 MD) is chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, director of the Mood Disorders Program, and an associate professor of psychiatry. She is also an adjunct research investigator with the Department of Psychiatry and Depression Center at the University of Michigan.

2010s

Brian Dlouhy, MD (’13 R, ’14 F), was named the inaugural Getch Scholar by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Congress of Neurosurgeons. An assistant professor of neurosurgery at the UI, his research investigates how the forebrain affects breathing during seizures, which has implications for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. His clinical practice focuses on pediatric neurosurgery with an emphasis on pediatric epilepsy.

In memoriam

Edward Lammer (’79 MD, ’82 R), whose landmark contribution to pediatrics was the identification of a link between use of the acne medicine Accutane during pregnancy and birth defects, died Feb. 20, 2016. From an investigation that started while he worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the early 1980s, Lammer showed that Accutane markedly increased the risks for every adverse outcome of pregnancy—from spontaneous miscarriages and major malformations to lowered IQs and mental retardation. Sales of Accutane ceased in 2009, by which time Lammer was studying genetic and environmental causes of birth defects at the University of California, San Francisco, Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute.